BADAM HALWA

Me and my hubby love badam / Almonds. I generally use badam in most gravies / sabzi's instead of coconut. I wanted to try some sweet recipe, the first thing that came to my mind is badam halwa :-) I referred few sites to get an idea, and came up with my version. It came out perfect and tasted really really yum. My hubby said it said so good :-) So give it a try once, you will for sure agree with me.

Ingredients :

Badam - 1/2 Cup heaped

Sugar - 1/2 Cup heaped

Ghee ( Clarified Butter ) - 1/4 Cup

Sweetless Khoya / Kova ( Optional )  - 1 1/2 Table Spoon

Condensed milk ( Optional ) - 1 1/2 Table Spoon

Saffron / Yellow color - A generous pinch

Milk - little more than 1/4 Cup

Elachi / Cardamom - 1 ( Powdered )

Method :

Soak badam / almonds at least for 5 hours. Peel the skin and grind it to a smooth paste with milk. Add more milk if needed. Mix saffron in little warm water or milk and keep it aside. 

Take a heavy bottom pan ( I used non-stick pan ) add sugar, 1/2 cup of water, bring it to a boil and when the sugar dissolves completely add the ground paste and mix well, keeping the flame in simmer, so that lumps are not formed.

Then increase the flame to medium, and keep keep stirring well for say 1 or 2 minutes and then add condensed milk, khoya, saffron / food color, elachi to it, and mix well. Add a teaspoon ghee in regular intervals, and keep stirring, until the halwa starts leaving the pan. When you see whitish bubbles appear in the bottom, stir for 5 minutes more and then transfer to a greased plate (with ghee ), and allow it to cool. After cooling down, the halwa will be non-sticky. Transfer to a airtight container and refrigerate. 

Normally in sweet stalls they scoop out a small portion and then roll it in a butter paper, you can also do it in the same way if you want. Yummy and tasty Badam Halwa / Almond halwa is ready to eat :-)

Notes :

You can add water instead of milk, while grinding badam/almonds.

Adding khoya and condensed milk is purely optional, but adding it really enhances the taste. You can add either one of it too by skipping condensed milk or khoya.

Adding ghee is very important. So be generous ;-) don't replace it with cooking oil. 

The halwa should be non sticky after it cools down, So if the halwa is not non sticky then transfer the halwa to the pan, add little ghee on the bottom now add the halwa and stir few more minutes to get the right consistency. 

Enjoy the un forgettable regal and tasty dessert - BADAM HALWA :-D